Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an avalanche photodiode for detecting ultraviolet radiation and to the corresponding manufacturing method.
Description of the Related Art
As is known, in the technical field of photon detection, there is felt the need to have devices that enable detection of ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation with high sensitivity, and are thus able to detect an even limited number of ultraviolet photons. In this connection, the spectral region of ultraviolet radiation is comprised between 100 nm and 400 nm.
By way of example, the paper “High-Temperature Single Photon Detection Performance of 4H-SiC Avalanche Photodiodes”, by Dong Zhou et al., IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 26, no. 11, Jun. 1, 2014, describes a silicon carbide photodiode, in which lateral confinement of the electrical field is obtained by adopting a structure of the so-called “bevelled mesa” type. This photodiode is characterized by low dark current, thanks to the low thermal generation within silicon carbide. Further, this photodiode is particularly suitable for detecting ultraviolet radiation, since it exhibits an intrinsic insensitivity in the visible. However, implementation of a mesa structure entails impossibility of obtaining, for example, a high-fill-factor detector.